Vermont Secretary of State business search

Which Vermont names keep their protection

A business keeps sole rights to its name only while its registration has one of six statuses: Active, Terminated, Expiration Pending, Registered, Reserved or Hold. A registration in any other status does not keep those rights. Dissolved, withdrawn or expired names are free to take.

The state's business pages link to the Online Business Service Center, so start there when you check a name against the records.

What makes a Vermont name distinguishable

Vermont judges names by whether they are distinguishable in the state's records. A difference made only of punctuation marks, special characters or spacing does not count.

The state's rule lists these differences in one place, so a name that differs only in those ways is treated as the same name. Adding or dropping the word Vermont, or the phrase Green Mountains, does not count either.

Swapping articles, prepositions or conjunctions does not make a name different, and the symbols &, @ and + do not either. Business type words such as Company or Co. do not change the result.

Words Vermont refuses in business names

Vermont will not approve a business name that contains words implying government affiliation, discriminatory language, or indecent or obscene language. A name that falsely implies government affiliation is refused even if it is otherwise distinct.

An assumed business name that uses an entity identifier such as Company, Co., Limited or Ltd. is not approved. Corporate names may not use the word cooperative, except for the cooperative corporation types the statute lists. A low-profit LLC must use the abbreviation L3C in its name.

Reserving a Vermont LLC name for 120 days

An application for a reserved name costs $25. The Secretary of State reserves the name for the applicant's exclusive use for 120 days.

The $25 reservation and the $155 articles of organization both appear in the same statute on LLC fees. Plan to file the articles within the 120 days.

Annual reports and assumed names in Vermont

A domestic LLC's annual report costs $45. The report must reach the Secretary of State within three months after the company's fiscal year ends. The due date follows the fiscal year rather than the calendar year, which is the same office that receives the articles and the reservation.

The statute lists a different annual report fee for a foreign LLC, so check which kind of company you are filing for before you pay. Assumed business name registration is filed with the Secretary of State for a fee of $70, as a separate filing from the LLC's own paperwork.

Checking and claiming a name in Vermont

1. Check the name in the Online Business Service Center and confirm the status of any matching registration.
2. Confirm the name ends with an ending Vermont accepts, using the endings each state accepts.
3. Pay $25 to reserve the name for 120 days, or file articles of organization for $155 directly.
4. Compare the annual report and filing costs in the LLC cost calculator.